1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic communications, and more particularly, to a method for enabling communication when network connectivity is reduced or lost during a conversation and for resuming the same conversation when connectivity improves.
2. Description of Related Art
Current wireless communications, such as mobile phones or radios, including tactical or first responder radios, support only real-time (i.e., live) communications. For communication to take place with existing wireless communication systems, a wireless network connection with a sufficient usable bit rate to support a real-time conversation must exist between the sending and receiving pair of wireless devices in communication with each other. If such a connection does not exist, then no communication can take place.
When a person is engaged in a conversation using their mobile phone, a network connection is established between the phone and the local radio transceiver (i.e., a cell tower). The network connection must have a sufficient usable bit rate to support a real-time conversation before any live communication can take place. As long the mobile phone is within the range of the radio transceiver, the signal strength or usable bit rate is typically more than adequate for conducting live phone conversations.
As the person using the mobile phone travels away from the radio transceiver, or they enter an area of poor coverage, such as in a tunnel or canyon, the usable bit rate or signal strength on the wireless network connection is typically reduced. If the distance becomes so great, or the reception so poor, the usable bit rate may be reduced beyond the range where live communication may take place. Beyond this range, the conversation is “dropped”, and the user may no longer be able to continue the phone conversation.
Similarly, when too many users are conducting conversations on the network at the same time, the total aggregate bit rate for all the conversations may exceed the usable bit rate capacity of the radio transceiver. In such situations, certain conversations may be dropped or a connection refused in an effort to preserve the usable bit rate or capacity for other conversations. As the number of conversations on the network decreases, or usable bit rate conditions on the wireless network improve, dropped or refused users may again rejoin the network and make new conversations as capacity on the network improves.
In yet another example, external disturbances that affect the network may cause ongoing conversations to be dropped. For example, severe radio interference, such as a spike in electrical or electromagnetic radiation, the intentional jamming of the wireless network, the antenna on a phone, radio or the transmitter is damaged or is operating improperly for some reason, then the usable bit rate on the network connection may be insufficient for users to conduct real-time communications. As a result, no new conversations may be established altogether or ongoing conversations may be dropped.
Wired communication networks may also have capacity problems when too many users are attempting to use the network at the same time or there are external interferences degrading the performance of the network. In these situations, conversations are typically dropped and/or no new conversations can be made in order to preserve usable bandwidth for other users.
With both wireless and wired communication systems, there is no persistent storage of the media of conversations. When a person engages in a conversation using a mobile phone, radio or landline phone, there is no storage of the media of the conversations other than possibly buffering as necessary for transmission and rendering. Consequently, both wireless and wired communication systems are reliant on network connections. If at any point the usable bit rate on the network is insufficient for a real-time conversation, regardless of the reason, there can be no communication. Phones and radios are essentially unusable until the usable bit rate on the network improves to the point where real-time communications can commence again.
Regardless of the reason, dropped calls are both an annoyance and inefficient. Often when a call is dropped, both parties will attempt to reconnect by calling each other at the same time, resulting in a busy signal, or the transfer of one or both parties into voice mail. Or if a person has moved beyond range of a wireless network, the parties must wait until the person is again in network range to resume communication. In either case, a new connection must be established and a new conversation started before the parties can resume communication.